The 2018 House Popular Vote Went To Democrats — And The Margin Of Victory Was Historic

ByCaroline Burke

2 months ago

Ethan Miller/Getty Images News/Getty Images

According to recent data by NBC News, the 2018 midterms House popular vote went overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats. The highly contested "blue wave" didn't just show up — it ultimately reflected the largest margin of victory for Democrats since the Watergate scandal. And not even all of the votes have been tallied, two weeks after the elections took place.

NBC also notes that as the votes continue to trickle in, the margin of victory for Democrats continues to increase. As of noon on Nov. 21, Democratic candidates for the House garnered 58,990,609 votes, and Republicans took in around 50,304,975. So in total, 53.1 percent of all votes counted so far were those in favor of Democratic candidates, while Republicans earned 45.2 percent.

Of course, the popular vote doesn't always directly transfer to the number of seats a political party wins in the House. But so far, Democrats have gained nearly 40 seats in the House, with a few elections still qualifying as too close to call. As of Wednesday, Democrats control 234 seats in the House, compared to Republicans' 199. And the Democratic Party didn't flip the House by a small margin — they flipped it by a landslide.

The New York Times on YouTube

But it wasn't just a huge night for the Democratic party. It was also a historic election for women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community at large. According to USA Today, over 80 women were elected to the House this year. Of those 80, 69 were Democrats. What's more, over 153 openly gay, bisexual and transgender people were elected across a number of political offices, marking the greatest election night for LGBTQ people in American history.

As Democratic success became increasingly clear in the days following the election, Trump argued that Republicans are now "better off" with the current House breakdown than when they had control of all three branches of government.

During a White House news conference on Nov. 7, Trump said, “Now we have a much easier path because the Democrats will come to us with a plan for infrastructure, a plan for health care, a plan for whatever they’re looking at, and we’ll negotiate. From a dealmaking standpoint, we are all much better off the way it turned out."

Late Night with Seth Meyers on YouTube

Trump further revealed that he would respond with "warlike posture" to any efforts from the new Democrat majority to investigate his administration. He said, “They can play that game, but we can play it better, because we have a thing called the United States Senate. I could see it being extremely good for me politically because I think I’m better at that game than they are, actually, but we’ll find out.”

Trump's comments came a week after he declared that the blue wave was "dead" in the days leading up to the midterm elections. “I think the blue wave is dead, frankly. And I think we’re doing very well. It looks like we’re going to win the Senate, which is very important.”